'Falling Skies' Review: "Death March"

‘Falling Skies’ season 2 finds the smoldering remains of its eighth episode of the year “Death March” as the 2nd Mass. braves the road in search of Charleston, happening upon a little harnessed girl while Weaver tries to figure out Tector.

The last ‘Falling Skies’ episode “Molon Labe” saw the group capturing an Overlord while saving Ben, bringing the whole of Skitter wrath down upon the hospital, while down in the basement a creepy, crawly new threat attacked Lourdes, Matt and Anne. So, how does “Death March” keep things moving?

Read on for your in-depth recap of everything you need to know about ‘Falling Skies’ season 2 episode , “Death March!”

As the convoy continues on its trek to Charleston, Tom reminisces about letting Ben leave the group; Just then, his youngest son Matt asks him to hang onto a will he just wrote out! Assuring him that no one is going to die, Tom comforts the boy telling him they’ll reach their destination soon. Meanwhile at the front of the convoy, Tector rides with Weaver, Weaver intent on figuring out what he can’t put his finger on about Tector.

In an advanced scouting truck, Hal tries to prove that he can be a dark person to Maggie, who cheerfully chides him as they ward off Pope’s crass humor from the flatbed of the vehicle. Meanwhile Weaver sees through Tector’s simple country boy facade to realize that Tector must have been in the military, and as he explains why that would damage their trust something dives into the path of the truck! The convoy stops to find that they’ve hit a little harnessed girl, the impact having apparently disabled the harness. Thankfully, she’s only unconscious as the group reluctantly agrees to take her in. Just then, she wakes and asks for her brother Tyler, though no one knows what she means

Up ahead, Hal and Maggie’s truck begins to overheat, and Pope directs them toward a nearby river. Tom wonders over the little, slowly mutating girl, what the world will do with the millions of harnessed children if the Skitters should ever leave the planet, but Anne assures him that they’d find ways to adjust. Apprehensive about her appearance, Matt pays a visit to the girl, now calling herself Jenny, whose ravenous hunger has returned after so much time spent harnessed.

Hal and Maggie’s truck comes to a halt, and Pope inspects the engine to determine that the radiator hose has a leak. After sending Hal off to retrieve the water, Pope tersely questions Maggie over what she plans to tell Hal about her dark past. She counters that very little good comes from digging up the past, but pope challenges her to sack up and tell the truth. Meanwhile back at the convoy, Matt lets slip to the girl their plans to go to Charleston, despite her eerie insistence that she loves her Skitter “Guardian,” and misses her equally scaly “brother.” Matt begs her to come to Charleston with them, where he suggests they too could be a family, and she says “maybe.” Just then, she senses her brother Tyler’s presence, and we see the scaly tyke clinging to the bus! The creature soon disappears, and the group agrees to keep moving.

Back on the road, Maggie seems distant, and Hal’s prodding leads her to finally tell her story. Sure, she was in the hospital a few years ago, but what she never previously told anyone was that she became a heroin addict afterward, who turned to breaking into homes with her boyfriend for things to sell. When she got caught and sent to prison, she discovered she was 3 months pregnant! She carried the baby to term, but never saw him after that . Cool story, bro.

With little word from Maggie or Hal, the group makes a decision about the best road to Charleston, but suddenly “Tyler” appears once more looking for his sister Jenny. Her harness reactivates, and she easily breaks her restraints, and overpowers anyone in her path, fleeing into the woods. When Matt comes too, Tom comforts his son by assuring him that Ben won’t abandon them for the skitters permanently. Down the hall, Lourdes snaps at Anne when the patient she’d been treating dies on the table.

Hal and Maggie reason that they should catch up to the group soon, when all of a sudden their truck is surrounded by blinding lights!

Back with the 2nd Mass. Tector comes clean to Weaver that he doesn’t want to stay in Charleston knowing how he’d failed as a Marine, getting his squad ambushed and failing to protect Boone the other week. Weaver assures him that the deaths weren’t his fault, as Tector slams on the brakes. They’ve made it to Charleston! It’s completely destroyed, though. Bummer.

Everyone seems to lose hope, even Tom, but Tector convinces Weaver to rouse everyone with a stirring speech. Charleston may have been a bust, but they can still press on to form their own community, Just then, Colonel Porter appears, flanked by soldiers, and followed by Hal, Maggie and Pope! Charleston is real, y’all and they’ve brought strawberries. So where is it, you ask? Guess we’ll find out next week!

It's hard to judge an episode like this that's spent mostly in transit, focused solely on getting characters to open up to one another. For one, it's not a huge strength for 'Falling Skies' to go light on the action, given the fairly muted nature of its drama, but if nothing else "Death March" does a decent enough job of setting up the final stretch of the season. Onward, to Charleston!

Did you get your fill of Skitter-y ‘Falling Skies’ action? What did you think about the episode? Join the discussion in the comments, and be sure to check back next week for the all-new episode recap of ‘Falling Skies’ season 2 episode 9 “The Price of Greatness” on TNT!